United Kingdom

The Smurfs

Synopsis

The Smurfs make their first trip to the big screen in Columbia Pictures'/Sony Pictures Animation's hybrid live-action and animated family comedy, The Smurfs. When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the Smurfs out of their village, they're forced through a portal, out of their world and into ours, landing in the middle of New York's Central...

Production Details

Synopsis

The Smurfs make their first trip to the big screen in Columbia Pictures'/Sony Pictures Animation's hybrid live-action and animated family comedy, The Smurfs. When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the Smurfs out of their village, they're forced through a portal, out of their world and into ours, landing in the middle of New York's Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down.

SHOWTIMES

The Smurfs

Kids' movies may be the most difficult cinematic mountains to climb. The filmmakers must cater to two perspectives at constant odds with one another: young ones, who find amusement in simplistic stories and broadly painted humor, and their parents, who need enough of a grounded hook, emotional core and clever jokes to keep them from nodding off. Not an easy task.

To see this winning combination pulled off by a 3-D, animation/live-action hybrid adaptation of a rather irritatingly sweet cartoon from the '80s…well, it's both a shocking and welcome surprise. The Smurfs transcends recent property-grabs like Garfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Marmaduke by embracing the cartooniness, relishing in the fact that it can get away with anything with the help of adorable little blue people.

Smurfs takes the model employed by 2007's Enchanted, kicking things off in the colorful, fantasy world of Smurf Village and quickly bringing its cheery, clueless characters to the terrifying metropolis of New York. After Clumsy Smurf accidentally leads the Smurf-obsessive Gargamel (Hank Azaria) to the hidden mushroom haven of his brethren, the bumbling black sheep of the Smurf family finds himself and a few clan members, Papa, Brainy, Grumpy, Gutsy, Smurfette at the wrong end of a Blue Moon-induced worm hole. The group (along with Gargamel and his cat) find themselves face-planted in NYC's Central Park, where they meet Patrick Winslow (Neil Patrick Harris), yes man to the cosmetic titan Odile. This sets the race in motion—the Smurfs enlisting the help of Patrick to find a way back home, Patrick seeking the perfect ad campaign for Odile's new make-up line and Gargamel questing hungrily for a few drops of Smurf essence.

If Smurfs was simply a barrage of fart jokes and pop culture references the movie wouldn't click, but by giving each of his characters something to do (seems obvious, no?), director Raja Gosnell injects the film with a helpful dose of heart. Along with Clumsy's quest to be more than his name insists, Harris' Patrick also has his own problems to overcome. Namely, preparing to be a Papa Smurf to the kid he's about to have with his wife Grace (Glee's Jayma Mays). Harris and Mays take their roles here seriously, going all out when they need to chase the adventurous Smurfs around town in one slapsticky sequence after another, but they put just as much into their smaller scenes. One moment where Papa Smurf sits Patrick down for a ''Dad talk'' even has weight—a near impossible task for a ''kids'' movie.

But let's not get too sappy: the movie is funny, plain and simple. Azaria makes a living bringing cartoon characters to life—he's a reason why The Simpsons has been on for more than 20 years—and his goofy Gargamel antics are inspired. A recurring gag where the evil wizard continually steps through ventilation steam grates probably read fine on paper, but Azaria knows how to play big and doesn't allow any moment of physical comedy to lazily fall through the cracks. On the flip side, Harris nails the straight man role and acknowledges that hanging out with Smurfs is just as bizarre as you'd imagine. Think The Brady Bunch Movie for the world of animation.

With solid kids' flicks becoming a rare occurrence, Smurfs is a breath of fresh air, a film that believes in its own simple message while simultaneously being self-aware of its cartoonish heritage. The movie's a smurfy good time, but it takes a particularly smurfy Smurf to let go of cynical baggage and smurf it.

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